


when you were east

by jsnoopy



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Infidelity, M/M, Pining, Romance, sehun is pete wentz thank you, the seattle ryden au no one asked for, theyre in a mid 2000s emo band if you dont know what ryden is its ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 12:21:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19198696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jsnoopy/pseuds/jsnoopy
Summary: Johnny misses his bandmate when they're apart. So he does something about it.





	when you were east

**Author's Note:**

> title is from northern downpour by panic! at the disco

Devils & Queens had never seen this many people crowded into its one room before. Even the Grand Opening had nothing on The Johnny Seo’s birthday. 

Sehun had done a great job with the place, even if it was a little entitled that he would open a whole bar just for his friends to hang out in. He was emo royalty or whatever — he could do what he wanted. If only Johnny actually wanted to be there, then everything would be perfect. 

The truth -- and this was a dangerous truth -- was that he wanted to be somewhere else, with someone else, and it was hard to imagine that there was any way for him to get there. He had dug himself a deep, deep hole.

His bandmates were all in Seattle already. They had a show there in two days. Johnny had tickets for a red-eye the following night, but the hole he had dug was starting to feel claustrophobic, and the people here weren’t the right ones to pull him out of it.

His girlfriend sat beside him with a new drink in her hand. She exchanged it for the empty glass in his and smiled. She was beautiful, she really was, but whenever Johnny closed his eyes he saw a flash of dark hair, a wide, bright smile, tan skin under blue waves. 

He could still taste the salt on his lips. He washed it down with the cold drink in his hand.

“Happy birthday, baby,” she said for the tenth or hundredth time, and pressed her lips to his cheek.

If she’d known him better maybe she wouldn’t have bought a cake with his prepubescent face on it. It was like no matter how old he was, no one would let him forget his youth. He felt like a thousand year old man trapped in a teenagers body -- but he wasn’t a teen anymore, was he? Twenty-one. Twenty-one and stuck in a bar full of people who knew a picture with him would grant them a solid fifteen minutes of fame, at least online. 

Johnny had never been popular in high school. He didn’t know how to handle this. The only people who  _ knew _ him were 2,852 miles away -- he looked it up earlier that morning while texting Jaehyun about Ten’s inability to get out of bed before noon and how Jaehyun just wanted to go sightseeing but Taeil was busy writing love songs for his partner and their lead singer  _ wouldn’t get up _ . 

Almost 3,000 miles. He would run there if he could, just to crawl under the covers of a hotel room that looks like every other and watch Ten sleep. 

His girlfriend always got upset with him for being flaky, distant, a dreamer. Maybe she was right. He didn’t think twice about shifting out of bed that night, dressing in the same clothes he’d stripped off a few hours earlier, the same clothes from the party, and leaving. He didn’t take his bag with him, just his wallet and phone.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked later, hours after waking up to discover an empty bed and him nowhere to be found. He didn’t need to answer. She already knew, she just didn’t want to.

Honestly, he just wanted to go for a walk. But the walk ended in a taxi ride which ended at the airport. He’d exchanged tickets before he realized it. Was he still drunk? Maybe. He didn’t try to analyze his actions, just ordered a few more drinks at a bar in the airport while he waited to board the next flight to Seattle, because he could.

Jaehyun complained about Ten sleeping through the whole day, so maybe that explains why he was still awake when Johnny knocked on his hotel room door at 6 AM. 

Ten looked up at him from behind his black-framed glasses, his dark hair matted down flat to his forehead. He didn’t say anything at first. Johnny knew he was surprised, but didn’t want to admit it. He was like that; sometimes every thought that passed through his mind poured out of his mouth without hesitation, without fear. 

This was too new to not be afraid of.

“That bandana looks stupid,” Ten said.

“Breakfast?” Johnny asked. 

He waited for Ten to put a coat on. It was getting chilly out, and gray clouds had been sprinkling since Johnny landed. Ten’s glasses collected little drops of rain as soon as they left the hotel. He kept taking them off to wipe his sleeve over them, but gave up and tucked them into his pocket after only a few minutes.

Johnny’s hands itched at his sides as they walked down the block to a diner. He wanted to stick one hand into Ten’s pocket and lace their fingers together, but it was too much, too soon, too public, too....

The air burned Johnny’s cheeks. He held the door open for Ten and watched the shorter man pass under his arm as the bell above the doorway chimed at their entrance. Charming.

“You know the show isn’t tomorrow, right?” Ten asked when they were settled. He chewed on a plastic straw that never even made it into his glass of water. They didn’t serve Redbull here and Ten didn’t like coffee. What a tragedy.

“I was bored,” Johnny said.

“Bored? In New York City? NYC?”

“‘NYC,’” Johnny repeated, unable to keep the mocking tone from slipping into his voice, even though he’s trying to say something  _ important _ , “is boring without the right people.”

“Oh my god.”

They both looked up, heads swivelling toward the awed voice. A waitress -- not theirs, probably still in the kitchen placing their order -- stood by the booth, one hand held halfway to her mouth. She looked a little younger than them. A fan. Obviously.

“I thought it was you, but I wasn’t sure, oh my god,” she breathed. “Can I get a picture?”

Ten beamed at her, already sliding out of the booth to comply, but Johnny frowned. He pushed his hair back from his face. 

“Do you mind if we eat first?” He asked.

Her face fell at the monotone question. Johnny couldn’t see Ten’s expression, didn’t want to really, but saw him turn to look at him out of his peripheral vision. 

“Oh, I- yes, of course, I’m sorry, I’ll just- enjoy your meal, sorry,” the fan stammered, her face flushed in shame. Good. She should be embarrassed.

Johnny didn’t look at Ten again until the fan scuttled away to one of her own tables. When he did, he was met with a quirked brow, pursed lips.

“What?” Johnny asked.

“You’re really rude to our fans. She’s going to tell everyone online you’re an asshole.”

“I don’t care what random people on the internet think.”

“Is that why you post your sad boy poetry for the public online?”

Johnny’s face burned, but not because of the cold snap of the air. Ten knew just how to push his buttons. It always used to make him furious, make him slam doors and throw down instruments and storm off to sulk until Jaehyun came to collect him. 

But his birthday party was just one example of a missed opportunity for Ten to make fun of him. It made him more annoyed that it felt empty without him than anything. 

“Maybe I just don’t want anyone interrupting us when we’re together. Privacy isn’t a bad thing.”

Ten smiled. Johnny just stopped fucking breathing. He hated that he had that effect on him. He loved it.

“I’m glad you came early,” Ten said. “Jaehyun’s been bothering me all day. Now he can bother you.”

“Are you gonna tell him I’m here?” Johnny asked.

“Oh,” Ten said, his eyes sparkling in the dim diner lights, “we’re keeping secrets?”

“I’ll keep a secret for you if you keep one for me,” Johnny offered.

“Johnny,” Ten said, with that same smile, that fucking smile, “you already know all my secrets.”

_ Maybe this can be our secret, then _ , Johnny thought when he finally crawled under the sheets in Ten’s hotel room. When he blew out the candles on his birthday cake, just hours earlier, he’d had no idea that he had the power to make all his own wishes come true. 

He ran his fingers down Ten’s spine, over smooth, tan skin, and when he kissed his neck he tasted the ocean, the sky, and everything in between. 

**Author's Note:**

> maybe one person asked for it and it was my roommate
> 
> if anyone would like additional johnten ryden au moments please suggest them
> 
> don't tell me if i got anything wrong it's historical fiction okay


End file.
